The National Association of Real Estate Editors has named Alan J. Heavens of the Philadelphia Inquirer and Seattle-based freelance writer Jane Hodges, who writes for Dow Jones and the Seattle Times, as the winners of the Sixth Annual NAREE Bivins Fellowship.
The NAREE Bivins Fellowship entries were independently judged by Professor George Harmon, head of the Business Writing Program at the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University. NAREE announced award recipients at its Fall Summit in Las Vegas.
Heavens will use the funding to create a college-level program to provide Internet training for journalists to deliver real estate news to their readers. The sessions will begin at Temple Real Estate Institute at Temple University, where Heavens teaches, and later be offered online. Heavens was awarded $3,500.
“Newspapers need to build intensely local Web sites that provide a wealth of real estate information. This new training will equip journalists to deliver vital real estate content to their readers,” Harmon said.
The other winner, Jane Hodges, was awarded $1,500 to further her investigation into the social impact of single women buying homes. She will edit a book on the topic, accompanied by an Internet platform and a blog.
“Clearly she has the capacity and the will to produce a fine book. She has great clips and is a graceful writer,” Harmon said.
The award is named for NAREE past president Ralph Bivins to honor years of NAREE leadership. Bivins, an award-winning Houston-based journalist, is editor of RealtyNewsReport.com.
In its other awards program, cash awards totaling $10,000 will be offered to winners of NAREE’s 58th Annual Real Estate Journalism Competition. Real estate stories published, aired or posted during 2007. The journalism contest recognizes excellence in individual writing, editing, design and team reporting in newspapers, magazines, broadcast, Internet media and weekly business newspapers. New categories have been created for spot news, mortgage news reports, and commercial real estate. Entry forms are available on Naree.org.
The journalism contest winners will be announced at the annual awards luncheon May 9, 2008 in Dallas at NAREE’s Spring Conference — headquartered at the Magnolia Hotel and running from May 7-10.
The National Association of Real Estate Editors, founded in 1929, is a 700-member non-profit organization.
